Note: Javascript is disabled or is not supported by your browser. For this reason, some items on this page will be unavailable. For more information about this message, please visit this page: About CDC.gov.

Section 1: Public Health Preparedness in the States and DC

Moving Forward

CDC and Public Health Departments Are
Working to Address Challenges

Public health professionals need to continually
train and exercise to improve performance.
Laboratory and other equipment must be
maintained to work well during an emergency.
Response plans must be updated to address
emerging health threats. Accordingly, an
ongoing national commitment to public health
preparedness will allow state, local, tribal, and
territorial public health departments to maintain
their current abilities and take the next steps
necessary to improve emergency response.

Public health departments still face many
challenges in improving preparedness. Appendices
3 and 4 present information on CDC and ASPR
activities to strengthen preparedness. Examples of
CDC initiatives are presented below.

Electronic data for preparedness. CDC
is establishing standards and providing
technical assistance to allow the exchange of
electronic health data across organizational
and jurisdictional boundaries.

Laboratory testing. CDC is working with
state public health laboratories to expand
their biological and chemical testing abilities.
For radiological testing, CDC is developing
rapid laboratory methods to analyze
radioactive materials in clinical samples and
build capacity in state or federal laboratories
to measure radioactive contaminants in these
samples.

At-risk populations. CDC has established
commercial partnerships to supply needed
medicines to at-risk populations during an
emergency. With these partnerships, CDC
can quickly supply childhood vaccines,
medications for a variety of chronic diseases,
or other medicines.

Public health workforce and training.
CDC and its partners developed the Meta-
Leadership Summit for Preparedness, a
nationwide program that trains business,
government, and non-profit leaders to act
effectively during times of crisis. In addition,
the Centers for Public Health Preparedness,
a national network of academic institutions
with a common focus on public health
preparedness, are developing a national
preparedness core curriculum.

Legal preparedness. CDC’s initiatives
include enhancing training courses on legal
preparedness for public health professionals
and other first responders. In addition, CDC
is helping states and other jurisdictions
implement public health mutual aid
agreements, which enable sharing of supplies,
equipment, personnel, and information
during emergencies.

Exercising public health systems. CDC
joins other federal agencies in requiring
that public health departments and other
response agencies receiving federal funds
exercise capabilities using Homeland
Security Exercise and Evaluation Program
principles. Exercises range from discussionbased
tabletop exercises used to discern
gaps in emergency response plans to fullscale
operations-based exercises that test
communication and coordination within the
community’s entire response system.

Standards for preparedness. CDC and
NACCHO are collaborating on Project
Public Health Ready to develop standards for
local public health preparedness. CDC is also
working with partners to develop a voluntary
accreditation program for state and local
public health departments.

Measuring public health preparedness.
CDC is expanding and improving
preparedness data to present a clearer picture
of the status of public health preparedness
in the United States and to promote
accountability, as reinforced by the Pandemic
and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, signed in
December 2006. These data will assist CDC
and public health departments in identifying
specific areas for improvement. CDC is
committed to developing appropriate,
specific, measurable, and validated
performance measures to foster improvement
in public health preparedness.

Achieving the overarching goal, “people prepared
for emerging health threats,” is critical to the
health and safety of our communities. This
report represents CDC’s commitment to sharing
information on a program that contributes to this
goal. Future reports will show the extent to which
CDC and public health departments are making
progress towards achieving preparedness goals.